Every genuine rap head will easily tell you that the 1990s was the decade of hip hop. Every rapper or album that defined the genre can be found in these 10 years. This was the period of Biggie, Tupac, NWA, PE, NAS, Jay Z, and groups like Wu Tang Clan, the Fugees and Geto Boys. We also saw the intense beef between the east and west coast that led to the greatest from both regions dying in the space of one year.

This was also the decade of rap soundtracks to black themed movies like Boyz in da Hood, Above the Rim, Menace to Society, A Thin Line Between Love and Hate, etc. If you did not live in this decade, you (sir) have missed out on a defining period in music.

Lifestyle/pop culture web magazine, www.complex.com, published a list of the 90 best hip hop albums of the 90s, in April 2014, that had all my favourites in it. My best 36, in no particular order, are shown in the album cover collage published in the header.

For complete list of top 90 songs, see the link below. Tell us which album is your #1 before opening the link. Hint: It’s one of the ones from my 36 album covers.

SAN
Addendum:

My buddy, Falcon, pointed me out to this list of “Best Rapper Alive“, every year since 1979, from Complex. Very enlightening read. It breaks hip hop down to its historical bare essentials. Highly recommended.